According to C&W executive vice president John B. Coppedge III, who has headed up the firm's international operations for the past two years, the newly launched International Services Group will serve as a bridge between the commercial real estate firm's US brokers and their overseas and Latin American clients. The basic premise is simple: put real estate professionals with country- or region-specific experience in real-time contact with C&W brokers and new clients in order to bring all parties' expectations in line throughout the life of a deal. The group is also charged with generating referrals for global business from the US.
"It's another way to help sell our services and to be sure that the client understands the execution of a transaction," Coppedge tells GlobeSt.com. "Before, it was our broker selling our service and he might never have been to the country. Our people here in the US are experts on how real estate transactions are conducted outside the US, in terms of presentation as well as execution."
According to Coppedge, while the group has garnered attention as its members were brought onboard, it has been in beta mode until now. "We formed the International Services Group with the intention of bringing up to strength the five-member team by the third quarter of 2001," he tells GlobeSt.com. "We hand-selected members who were previously part of Cushman & Wakefield's International Operations team, and we recruited professionals with specific market knowledge in major business regions of the world. We've been through early pilot stages, and are now fully operational and ready for business."
In addition to Coppedge, who has been affiliated with C&W since 1977 as a broker, branch manager, regional director of the Financial Services Group and managing director, Europe/Asia operations, the team includes Simon H L Buckley, director, and Peter Baxter, associate director, based in New York, who will serve as contacts for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Buckley was previously with the firm's European arm, Healey & Baker and was based in its Channel Islands office from 1995 to 2000. Baxter was previously an acquisition manager with Whitbread PLC's corporate real estate department, which was a client of Healey & Baker's based in the United Kingdom.
Arshpreet Chaudhry, director, and Jessica Tornek, associate director, based in San Francisco, will serve as contacts for Asia Pacific. Chaudhry was director of corporate services for C&W India from 1997 until 2001. Tornek joined Cushman in 1999 from Aeon Intercultural Corp., based in Kobe, Japan.
Philip H. Grossberg, director, based in Miami, will serve as contact for Latin America. Grossberg is a 15-year veteran of General Motors Corp., where he spent eight years as a member of GM's corporate real estate team, including four years as Latin American real estate manager in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
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